James m



JAMES-M. CRAFTS, 0F sos'ros, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent N 80,459,'dattl July 28, less.

IMPROVEMENT Interme- Am) resume smsrr's.

El 5:15am! ninth in in iigrst Enters inhuman making an! ntflge I TO ALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME: l

Be it known that I, JAMES M. Chairs, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have made a new and useful invention, having reference to the Improvement of DistilledAlcoholic Liquors, such as i whiskey, brandy, ram, 850.; and I dohereby declare the same to be fully described, asfifollows:

By my process, I produce, in a very shortperiod of'time, effectsor'changes, whichsuch liquor undergoes wben'allow ed to stand in theusual way, for a much greater length of time, in barrels or cask s. In other words, I'attain the ozdnizing oi the liquor, and the absorption and-solution by it of certaiucolorin-g another matters which tend to or do materially improve it for-the palate or other purposes. f j i Q The efi'cct of air on distilled liquors being due to the action ofozone or auto'zone, which is usuallypreaeut in small quantities in the air, and it being well known that this chemical principle may be developed by the" v passage of electricity through air or by other well-kuown means, as, for instancethe passingof .air'jor oxygen through a space included between parallel surfaces of glass, between which a current of electricity iscsuscd to pass, I employ for my purpose any convenient and proper method of producing the ozone, or of obtaining air' impregnated therewith, and in carrying out my invention, I force such air, so impregnated with ozone, through the distilled whiskey or liquor, or-I agitate the liquor and aquantity of such ozouiaed air together, or-cause W the liquor to be passed through the air in drops or fine streams, or 1' cause the ozonized air to pass in numer- 'ous currents through-the liquor, until, by such exposure of the liquor, I produce the efiect, which'islth'cfcou sequencer-if the action oi the atmosphere on such liqu'orwhen the latter is. allowed to stand fora very much longer timein a. vessel. 1 l t V g t In further carrying out my invention, I introduce into the distillcdliquor, so treated, or to be tteated shavings or small masses of oak or any'other wood, or charred wood, the some being in order to obtain-results identical with those obtained by allowing the distilled liquor to stand for agreat length of time in barr els, f

. whether charred or not, and extract therefrom the coloring or other matters contained in thc wood thereofy And, in further carrying out my invention, I employ heat, that is, I beat "the liquor in a closed or close vessel, so as to prevent evaporation of such liquor. I have found that when whiskey is so heated' in a close 1 vcssel 'and kept therein heated fo'r a short period, ata temperature near that of boiling water, the action'of the various bodies or matters contained in the distilled liquor upon 'each other is greatly accelerated, an improvement in the quality of the liquor being also cfl'ected.

By so heating. the liquor, preparatory to or after being ozonized, or by keeping it heated while containing j wood shavings or other material, from which coloring or other matter is" to be extracted, the liquor will begreatly improved, and the extraction of the coloring or other matter will be facilitated.

Although the sevcral modes above described inay be used together in the'improvemeut of a distilled liquor, they may lieseparately employed. I find a few hours generally euflicient for producing the ezoning and coloring of theliquor. In other words,- I. can produce in that time such a conversion of the whiskey as has hereto- .fore been attained by allowing it to stand for years in a-barrel. My invention, tb er'ei'orc, eiiects a saving in labor, storage, interest, insurance, and loss by evaporation, and enables new whislt'ey orwliqu or, in a very short period of time; to be greatly improved, or-to have all the qualities which it usually gains by age or by standing for a. long time in pipes or cnsks. i l o i I am aware that for making dccoctions or vegetable extracts, is customary to employ heat, and 'therefore Iinelte no claim tofsuch employment of it, but I use it in'connection with the means of preventing evaporation ofthe liquor, also with such and the material from which the extract or extracts are to be obtained, and this either previous to or after the treatment of the liquor by'subjectiug it to the action of air charged with ozone or antozo'nc. i

I would remark that instead of using air as the vehicle for transferring the ozone or antozone into'the liquor, Ican employ a gas, as oxygen,- i'orinstance, such being first charged with ozone.

Various processes, have been heretofore adopted for improving or ageing'dis tilled liquors, the natural.

2 tom ageing of them having been nttrihuzcdto the notion of three egents,-via, motion, heat, and atmospheric air, or the oxygen contained in the air, end consequently the result has been sought to be obtained by artificial means ofvbringingthe said agents into operation on an alcoholic liquor; 7

An arrangement of s ringing qrhglvcs, for the purpose-of agitating the liquor while exposed for as certain length of time'to a temperature oi 80 15100 Fahrenheit,- has been employed;

The liquor has been pumped up from a. tonic, and thence-allowed to-fall threughe series of strainers been into the tank, and there been subjected to theactiono'i' -heat, end a current of-plcctricity passed-through the liquor.

The alcoholic liquor has slco bcon ullowed' to trickle orpnbs through masses of yarn so is to expose it to the action as air. Air has also been forced through the spirituous liquor contained in vessels. Air hos also been. forced into a vessel containing the spirituous liquor, and cgitnted v rith the-liquor. At the some time an electric current has beu passed through the liquid. v I

All-such cflor'ts, howci'cr, were, at the most, but approximates to m y inventicn, as, although they might produce 'the resultof ageing the liquor, the time of accomplishing it wss very great in comparison to that required by my invontion.- I have ascertained that ozone or untozon'e is the active agent, and I employ air or o'xygen only es s vehicle cr carrying the oz'one o'r antonene'through'or into the liquor. v

When a current of electricity is caused to ,flov through a; mm of alcoholic liqnol in agitation, or having air passed through it, the proyorty of the liquid of 'eonductingthe electricitybei 1g so much superior to thnt f air, it will be seen that the electricity will be confined to the liquid,- snd will exert little or no action on the air to 'czonizc'pr-produce ozone. Consequentlythe action of their on the liquid will, for all practical pur-- poses, be no different when electricity-is being trnnsmitted-through the liquid, from what it will be without such. The action of the current of electricity on the liqnidmust he simply to decompose a very sninll portion of it. The oxygen eliminated from so smalls portion of the.liqnid 'dec'oinposcd, even ifit could be oaonised by the electric current, would be o so trifling on about as'to heof no practical value in producing the cileot of ageing the-liquor.

Thus'it will be seen that the active egent muployed by me to nroducetho'dosired-efl'ect husnot to any appreciable or practical extent-been before used; In fact I amuot a vrcre that before, my discovery of, the action of ozone on -a. spirituous liquor there has been e'nykucwledge of such action.

I hnvgtheroforc, not only mode Tm iin'portunt disccvcry, but rfhhyd inicuted oi difseovfered 'nnhpplien tion of it of greet prcctienl value'inthe arts. l I

One difference, therefore, bctfieeu my invention end others, as above mentioned, for ageing and otherwise treating liquors, as hereinbeforennentionetl, is, that I employ ozone or air chargedtherc\vith, to produce the result; nndfurthermore, I employ electricity, not to go through the liquid with air, but to oaoniao the air before it is forced into or through, or brought into contact with the liquid or spirituous liquor to be treated, By my process I thus charge the air with ozone, and force or bring it so charged into the liquid, orin'ccntact with its particles, and thus I produce, in .n for more rapid manner, and with highly economic results, comporutively the desiredefi'ects, or tho-ugeingof the liquor. 1 I claim, therefore, osmyinvention, the following; that i-s to any? I claim 'the foreing of whiskey or o distilled liquor through air, or cgns chorgedwith ozone or sntozone,

or the forcingcf sir or gas charged with clone or" ojntozone through whiskey or a distilled liquor, the sgi: toting together of whiskey orothcr distillcdliqu'or, and niror gas charged with ozone or antozcnc.

liaise claim,- in connection there\vith,"the employment, as erplained, of oak shavingsfor other coloring equivalent or'nrsterial, from which an extract is to be obtained.

I also clcini the treating of air 'by electricity, so as to czoniao such air, and 'subsequentlypes'sing such air in contact with or through whiskey a alcoholic liquor, th'o snme'boingcs snd' for the purpose, or purposes substantially as "specified.

I also claim, for the improvement oi the liquor, confining it in a close vessel, --endsubjecting 'it while therein to the action of the host and I also claim the combination of the some, and thenpplicetionof ozone or entozonc to theliciuor, by rhesus substantially as specified.v Y

. JAMES manure.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, SAMUEL N. PREII. 

